There’s a movie making its premiere this weekend called “This Is 40″ from director Judd Apatow. In it, there’s a cameo featuring Flyers and former Flyers alike in Ian Laperriere, Scott Hartnell, Matt Carle, and James van Riemsdyk.

It was Laperriere who was able to get his former teammates into the movie, however, and as he told me while scoping out future Flyers prospects at Team USA camp in Hawthorne, NY how he landed a spot in the film was a bit of dumb luck.

“There’s a friend of mine in L.A. who told a PR guy in Philly they’re looking for a guy without teeth for a small part. So I give them my name and if it works, it works,” Laperriere said. “Sure enough, a month later we were in L.A. filming and Hartnell, JVR, and Carle were there with me. I was in the right place at the right time with no teeth.”

Oddly enough, there was another former Flyer teammate who almost ended up in the movie with them.

“They thought about [Dan] Carcillo at the time, but he didn’t have his green card at the time and couldn’t do it.”

Now that Lapierre is in retirement, how does he compare shooting a film to playing hockey? Movie life is rough.

“It’s harder, man. It’s harder. On the ice, you’re an hour and a half on the ice and then to the gym. There, you’re on the set at seven in the morning to 11:30 at night. One day! I can’t imagine they do that every day. They deserve what they pay them, it’s hard work.”

Would he do it again? Probably not…

“I’m all about the experience. I don’t want to be an actor,” Lapierre says laughing it off. “My kids won’t see that movie any time soon. When they’re 18 or they’re 16 they can watch it. My wife and I laughed a lot though, we really enjoyed it.”